Like yesterday’s build, we thought it best to get three different perspectives of Vietnam Red to write down how they experienced the day, Enjoy!
Today we had ourselves our second day of building. Time went much faster as we knew well by now what we got ourselves into, and the team work was much stronger; diong a new construction method which involved weaving for the roof with palm leaves and other resources, insuring that we used the best of what we had. Helping along side us was the “Aunty” of the house who clearly had more experience and although there was a a language barrier, she did her best to teach us. Walls got taller and although I bumped into one and broke a corner, nothing stopped our spirits as we worked our way into working on top of the scaffolding. The heat beat down on us, but we persevered and finished the day off dirty and sweaty.
As the day closed off and what we thought was the end to an already good day, I noticed that there was an abnormal buzzing on my neck and felt as though it was a bee, to check with my friends I turned my head and got them to check if everything was okay. Little to my knowledge, the turn of my head panicked the bee and it and flew into my hair. We then went back to our rooms and I felt the buzzing again on my neck, so it was picked off and thrown onto a friends’ bed, throwing most of us into a craze. Whilst this was happening, Jack realised a frog was on his bed having what seemed to be the time of its life throwing even more commotion into the room, until we all got it into order – removed the bee and frog via someones’ hat, and sorted the situation accordingly. This made me think that Vietnam, and Australia are similar in that the wildlife is only inches away from you when you are out in the rural areas.
At the end of the day we were informed that our efforts contributed to what was 3 weeks of work into 2 days, thanks to no one taking shortcuts and taking action where necessary.
-Saxon B
Today was the second day of building the house for a local family. We woke up to the cries and barks of roosters and dogs early in the morning. The lack of sleep didn’t help when I noticed (too late) when a frog hopped out of my shoe (It’s okay though).
When building commenced, we blasted through a majority of the walls, placing in windows and beginning to build a palm leaf roof, with minor mishaps such as me accidentally knocking down a small portion of a wall.
After a gruelling 3 hours of work, several sunburns and countless mosquito bites, a lunch of local cuisine was finally served. The building commenced again afterwards, for another 3 hours, which was somehow even hotter and more tiring than the last. Walls were built, windows were installed and although we did not complete the building, we have done a significant amount for the family who will be moving in within the week.
Our hours of work, commitment and teamwork finally paid off after we were told that we had completed about 3 weeks of work for the family in 2 days (for 2-3 builders), with only a weeks worth of work left after we leave (2-3 builders/specialists), with only the roof, furniture and floor tiles left to place within the house we built. We ended the day preparing bags of resources that can be donated to a local school tomorrow. The task was given to us without any directions, and we quickly found a rhythm and created a manufacturing line to put 4 books, 2 pens, 1 milk drink and 1 bag of chips into each bag to be tied up and delivered by us tomorrow.
– John Z
Yesterday I woke up at when the sun rose surprisingly feeling refreshed after a very hot nights sleep. After eating a soup for breakfast, I ventured to the house to continue building the house for the second day in a row. I began the build by constantly laying bricks and building a new wall in the interior of the house. Unfortunately due to this, many litres of orange-flavoured hydrolyte had to be consumed. Sweat was flowing from my head to toe, but the determination to achieve something phenomenal for a family in need was what motivated me and the team to continue working as hard as I possibly could. After lunch, our regular siesta was what I greatly appreciated as I was able to recharge my batteries before beginning working again. In the afternoon instead of brick laying, I switched to weaving yarn through banana leaves, which would be used as the roof on the families house. This was fascinating as I had never previously weaved before and it was interesting to understand how sustainable the people on the island were as no produce or vegetation was ever wasted. Seeing the women smile at me while she was weaving allowed me to reflect and understand that material possessions are not what creates true happiness in the world, instead it is simple things that I personally admit to take for granted such as family, friends and food on the table for each meal of the day.
– Eva R
